Tech Tips and Tricks & Advice – written in plain English.

5 6 Methods For Getting Old Programs To Run On New Computers

This article is an updated and improved version of Windows 7 – Old Games Won’t Play.. Help!, a “reader question” article that has proven quite popular. It seems quite a few people want their 12-year old, 16-bit, Gen 1 games to play on latest generation, 64-bit machines, (I don’t blame them) but it doesn’t always work. Here are some tips for solving the problem. They are in the appropriate order, IMHO. (These work in Vista as well.)

1) Turn off “hardware acceleration”. A common cause of errors and “playability issues” is the old games’ use (or lack of) of hardware “acceleration”, which is referring to the “video card”, or more accurately, the graphics driver. Most graphics drivers allow you to turn off the hardware acceleration (which may resolve your issue).
Click Start in the lower left corner of Windows.
Click Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization, click Personalization, click Display Settings, and then click Advanced Settings.
Click the Troubleshoot tab, and then click Change Settings.Move the Hardware Acceleration slider until it is one notch to the right of None. This is the basic acceleration setting.
Click OK twice, and then close the window.
Restart the computer.

[you can also get there via the graphic adapter’s Properties in Device Manager]

[Note: Change Settings will be disabled if the graphics card drivers do not support disabling hardware acceleration. You may need to check the video card manufacturer’s website, and download the latest driver.]

3) You might need to try repeating Step 2, but this time install directly to your C:\ drive (by default, Windows will install programs to C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files(x86) folder) using the “Custom install” option during set up. This will eliminate some of the Permissions issues that keep older programs from running correctly.

4) You may also – if the game is old enough – need to turn off all but one CPU core. This is called “setting the affinity”. Also see, Compatibility Tricks for Old Programs, New Machines. If this resolves your issue, the article includes a download for a tool to make this setting ‘stick’.

6) Though I view this as a bit of a ‘last resort’, you can install a “virtual machine” and run the game in there.
* If you have the Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate edition of Windows 7, you can download XP Mode – which is really Virtual PC – for free. If you have other editions of Windows, grab Virtual PC 2007 from the same place.
* Perhaps a better alternative is using VMWare Server (free), from www.vmware.com/products/server. I have read that the VMWare handles the hardware acceleration better.

In both cases, you’ll have to supply the copy of (old) Windows yourself, and install it (into the “virtual machine”) from scratch.

… I hate to say, but it is possible that you may try all these things and get unsatisfactory results. I keep an old Pentium II machine (Windows 98) around just for playing those old games (which I wouldn’t dream of connecting to the Internet!). The games play best on the hardware/OS of their day. You might need to do the same. Or.. say goodbye to your old friends.

A PC without a functional mouse or keyboard is next to useless. So, I have assembled the steps to help you troubleshoot and repair your computer when the keyboard or mouse will not respond, and acts dead. (If your trouble is only certain keys not working, seeFix Problem Keyboards*)

Step 1: Check Your Connection
If your mouse or keyboard used to work, begin by ruling out the most likely problem first — disconnection (for new devices, scroll down to Step 2). Believe it or not (BION), it’s fairly common for wired USB or PS/2 plugs to work loose, or detach from their port on the back of the computer. (A kitten is a likely culprit.. though I have had cases where the perpetrator was an inquisitive canine.)[BTW, the Troubleshooter’s Step 1 is (almost) always “Is it plugged in?”]

With a USB device, you can simply unplug and reinsert the connector and see if your computer detects it. With an older peripheral that features a PS/2 plug (PS/2 mice have a round green plug, while PS/2 keyboards have a round purple plug), you need toshut down the computer before you reconnect the device.

[IMPORTANT: With a mouse or keyboard that uses a PS/2 connector, you need to turn the PC off before reinserting a plug into the port. Failure to do so could damage your computer.]

After the plug is firmly inserted into its port, turn on the machine again. Your “dead” mouse should work just fine.

Another connection problem is a malfunctioning USB port. To test your USB port, attach the mouse (or keyboard) into a nearby free USB port. If the device works, connect a “known good device”, such as a USB thumb drive, to the original port to see if it’s really broken.[Note: it is advisable to plug “input devices” directly into a USB port on your machine, and not a multiport ‘hub’.]

If the mouse or keyboard does not work in the second (or third) USB port, you may have a “driver issue” (which is fixable) or the device may be kaput. Keep reading, I’ll get to driver issues!

No wires? Wireless Mice get disconnected too!
Wireless input devices need three things to work properly:
1) a receiver/transmitter. Usually this is attached to the PC by USB, so refer to the advice above inre USB ports – make sure it’s plugged in to a working USB port.
2) power. A non-functioning wireless mouse or keyboard is 99% of the time caused by dead (or weak) batteries. Put fresh batteries in and…
3) a receiver/transmitter-to-device sync. Wireless keyboard/mouse units need to “connect” to the the transmitter, and there will be button you need to press (sometimes this “connect” button is well-hidden). Do so. Some devices require you to hold down a button on both the receiver unit and the device — consult the manufacturer’s FAQ page if you need to.

For devices that are new, and have yet to work, or if the above did not fix the issue…Step 2: Device drivers:
The place to look at your devices in Windows is Device Manager, which is fairly simply to get to .. if your mouse is working. But since you’ve read this far, I have to assume it’s not. If it’s possible, borrow a mouse from another computer, or a friend to proceed with a driver reinstall. If that’s not feasible at the moment, and your keyboard is working, read through steps (below) first, then…

1) Press the Windows key and “R” to open Run.2) type in devmgmt.msc, and press Enter. [note: Vista/Windows 7: use the left arrow (<– ) key to select “Continue”, and press Enter (If necessary).]
3) Hold down the Tab key and hit the down arrow key until “Mice and other pointing devices” is highlighted (selected).
4) Press, once, the right arrow key ( –> ) to “expand” that list, which will show the installed mice (and other pointing devices, like a notebook’s touchpad). A yellow triangle with a black exclamation point symbol will indicate a problem with the device.
5) Use the down arrow to highlight the troublesome mouse. Now hold down Shift and press the F10 key — which will open the context menu. Use the down arrow to highlight Uninstall, and press Enter. Answer “Yes, I’m sure.”
6) Reboot (restart the machine).

What happens next will vary. During the startup process, Windows will “find” that there is a mouse (or keyboard) installed, and it will try to automatically find and install the appropriate driver in a process called Plug N Play. Sometimes this works flawlessly, and you will see a balloon window tell you your “new device” is ready to use. If so, you are doing well.

Other times, Windows will not find the right driver (or a suitable generic) and it will prompt you to provide one – usually prompting you to insert the disc that came with the device. Locate the discs that came with your PC (or that you made when you first got it) and look for the appropriate CD. Fancy wireless multi-function mice (or keyboard) may have their own Install CD. Or there may be a disc that says “drivers and utilities”. Put it in and follow the prompts. [note: the keyword is “drivers”. Do not use the CD labeled “recovery”.]
If you cannot find the right driver disc, you may need to go to another computer and download the driver from the manufacturer’s website and copy it to a flash drive, and then carry it back to your malfunctioning unit. My series of articles on device drivers starts here, Plug-and-Play Doesn’t Work, Pt 1*

Hopefully, by this stage you have seen the “your new device is ready to use”. But you (probably) aren’t done.

7) If you did not download the driver, return to Device Manager, and highlight your mouse again, and open the context menu again, but this time select “Update driver software“. Let the “Automatic” search do its thing. This will give you the latest driver, and all the capabilities of your device.

Congratulations!.. or not?Either you have now brought your mouse (or keyboard) back to life, or it’s still acting dead as a doornail. If it is, repeat the entire list of steps above. Surprisingly frequently, things work the second time around.. though that may seem illogical (hey, your dealing with computers, and they’re just goofy).

If after the second run through your device still doesn’t work.. well then it’s time to bring in a replacement. Fortunately, you can buy new mice (or keyboards) for well-under $20 — even wireless ones. Laptop owners who need new touchpads or keyboards, well that gets pricey and you may want to have a tech do the work, so most people buy USB or wireless and plug it in instead.

Related:DriversPlanet
From site: “DriversPlanet.com provides an easy way of finding drivers in one spot.”

Reader Asks For Help After Installing Windows 7

Q: I had Windows XP and Windows 7 was recently installed. I hate Windows 7. My kids can’t play their games. Something about hardware acceleration driver. I want to know if I can switch to my XP. I do have the 7 recovery CDs that I made when I got the computer. Is there an easy way of switching? I’m not a tech person. I do not know alot about computers, but I do love and miss my XP. Can you help me?

A: Dear Reader,
Unless the person who upgraded you to Win 7 made a full backup of the XP (such as a “disk image”) before they installed, then no — there is no “easy way” back to XP. You would have to format your hard drive, install XP, install all your programs, and then copy back all your data. (Maybe.. that’s what you mean by “7 recovery CD’s”? Did you run Norton Ghost? Or, Acronis True Image?)
But XP is obsolete, not for sale any more*, not terribly secure, and no longer fully supported by Microsoft (and soon to be unsupported totally). It really isn’t the thing to do to “go back”…

Why don’t we focus on getting the issue resolved so that your kids can play their games? There are several approaches.
1) The “hardware acceleration” is referring to the “video card”, or more accurately, the graphics driver. Most graphics drivers allow you to turn off the hardware acceleration (which should resolve your issue).
Click Start in the lower left corner of Windows.
Click Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization, click Personalization, click Display Settings, and then click Advanced Settings.
Click the Troubleshoot tab, and then click Change Settings. [Note: Change Settings will be disabled if the graphics card drivers do not support disabling hardware acceleration.]
Move the Hardware Acceleration slider until it is one notch to the right of None. This is the basic acceleration setting.
Click OK twice, and then close the window.
Restart the computer.

[you can also get there via the graphic adapter’s Properties in Device Manager]

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is an error screen displayed by Microsoft Windows after encountering a critical system error which can cause the system to shut down to prevent damage. (They are not always blue anymore – sometimes you see a black screen, saying only “Stop: 0×000000F1″, or some other similar, ‘helpful’ hexadecimal string – but they are still called “bluescreens”.)

Bluescreen (Stop errors) on NT-based Windows systems are usually caused by poorly-written device drivers or malfunctioning hardware. Way back when dinosaurs roamed, in the Win9x era, incompatible DLLs or bugs in the kernel of the operating system could also cause BSOD’s. (There are different types and causes of stop errors, a good summary can be seen here.)
With Vista, Microsoft got a bit more restrictive, and it can happen when an unsigned device driver is found.

Microsoft got a a little tired, I guess, of taking the rap for the poorly written, and often amateur, device driver-caused BSOD’s. (People tend to blame Windows for the crash..) And so they, over the years, have tried various ways to get the hardware vendors to write and release good driver software, and rewarding those that did with the coveted Microsoft Compatible seal of approval (usually a logo on the box), and placement on the WHQL (Windows Hardware Compatibility List). But.. hardware vendors build, box, and ship, devices.. not program code, or study all the minutia of the OS kernel.

Digital “signatures” (in this instance) are one way to determine if the driver was written by the kid down the street. When a driver has been tested and approved in Microsoft’s own labs, it gets a super-special digital certificate. And with Vista, you pretty much gotta have that driver, or expect stop errors. These Microsoft-signed drivers are available through Windows Update, and the “Update driver” feature (a subset of “Add new hardware”).

Tip of the day: In Windows XP and Vista there is a utility that you can use to scan your all your installed drivers. It will report any it finds that don’t have a “signature”. This is a great way to ‘zero in’ on the (possible) cause of the Stop error.

Use the Sigverif.exe tool to identify unsigned device drivers installed on your Windows XP/Vista computer. To use the tool, perform the following steps:

1) Open Start menu, select Run, type Sigverif and then click OK.

The File Signature Verification tool will open. Click “Start”.

The scan will run, and ideally produce the following result…

But if it finds anything, it will produce a list of funny-named files… like “msndis5.sys” which are your unsigned drivers (or, they’re signed.. but not Microsoft super-specially signed). Hopefully it will be a list of one.

2) Use your favorite search engine to find out what the funny-looking driver belongs to. (In my example, it turns out that msndis5.sys is a part of NetStumbler – a very popular wireless “hotspot” locator.) Now you will know which device, or program, needs your attention to cure the BSOD.

3) Remove the offensive device driver.
There’s options to how you go about this. In the case of my example, it is a program. So, I can uninstall the program, or look for a newer version (update) of the program.
If it were a device, I would go into Device Manager (see, If It Ain’t Broke – Don’t Fix It), select the device in question and try:
* “Update driver. If that says ‘no dice’ (”The best software is already..”),
* “Rollback driver”. If that is not available, or fails to stop the Stop errors,
* “Uninstall”, then reboot. Windows will reinstall the device, and it will grab the driver from the WHQL.

Hopefully, this will resolve your issues. If not, you should start looking at your hardware itself. I’ve run long, so..

Today’s free download:BlueScreenViewer.
BlueScreenView scans all your minidump files created during ‘blue screen of death’ crashes, and displays the information about all crashes in one table. For each crash, BlueScreenView displays the details of the driver or module that possibly caused the crash.
For each crash displayed in the upper pane, you can view the details of the device drivers loaded during the crash in the lower pane. BlueScreenView also mark the drivers that their addresses found in the crash stack, so you can easily locate the suspected drivers that possibly caused the crash.

I have mentioned in my earlier Windows 7 articles that PnP has finally reached the point of being (practically) zero-touch and seems to work the way it was envisioned — you could just plug in your device and it would work.

New to Win 7 is a PnP feature called “Device Stage”, which does far more than recognize (and install drivers) your device and place an icon. This video demonstrates what happens when you plug in a Device Stage Enabled media player, but it’s supposed to work with smart phones, cameras, etc. Check it out.

I saw that, and thought, “that’s how it should be.” Microsoft is leaving this “open”, and so it will be up to the device manufactures to write the ‘applets’ (and they can make them do whatever they want). I think the makers of smart phones (in particular) could really do a lot with this.

How To Get Windows To See Optical Drives Again

Q: Paul I need your help. Yesterday I put a CD in my computer nothing happened. It has been working fine, and usually it will just start playing the first song. I put in a different disk and again nothing. I opened My computer and there was no icon for the DVD. Just icons for the Floppy A:, Local disk and no CD player. It just vanished! I rebooted and that didn’t help. What happened? How do I get my CD player back?

A: The exact steps required will depend on the cause of the issue, so the following answers are ‘generic’, and may not apply to your particular situation.

1) In Windows XP and older have a reputation for “losing” optical drives (but I have seen it occur in Vista) after uninstalling disc burning software — such as Roxio or Nero. Sometimes.. after installing; but usually it is an uninstall failing to work properly, which leaves incorrect values in your Registry.
Sometimes, though less frequently, a Windows Update, or other software change can cause this as well.

Sometimes Microsoft gets it right:
If this is you — you have uninstalled Roxio, say — the solution is to visit Microsoft Help & Support and click the “Fix It” button. (I have written about using the built in troubleshooter before, see Microsoft “One-click” Fixes)

The appropriate Fix it page/button is found here. One click should do it!

3) If that doesn’t help, or isn’t appropriate..
Open your computer’s case and check to make sure the power wires, and the ribbon cable are firmly connected to the back of the drive and to the motherboard — they may have become loose or disconnected.

No? Then open your Device Manager. Right-click on “My Computer” and select “Properties”. In Vista, click on Device Manager in the left column; in XP, click on the “Hardware” tab, and then click the “Device Manager” button.

In Device Manager, find “Optical drives” on the list, and expand the category by clicking once on the “+” sign. You should now see the device and a yellow triangle – which is telling you there’s an error.

Right click on the device’s name, and click “Uninstall” from the menu which opens. Answer “Yes”, you want to do that. Then restart (aka “reboot”) your machine. Windows should “find” a “new” CD-ROM and install it for you, thus restoring functionality.

4) If these steps fail, there is something else going on (maybe malware) and I recommend you contact a knowledgeable repair tech.. such as myself (shameless plug).

Today’s free link:KidsEmail.org. Along with ZooBah, something to consider when your child wants their own e-mail address.

Today’s free download:GOM Player is a free multimedia player with popular video and audio codecs built-in. GOM Player supports file formats such as AVI, DAT, MPEG, DivX, XviD, WMV, ASF. Users don’t have to install codecs separately. GOM Player is capable of playing incomplete or damaged AVI files by skipping the damaged frames. It can also play locked or partially downloaded files.

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is an error screen displayed by Microsoft Windows after encountering a critical system error which can cause the system to shut down to prevent damage. (They are not always blue anymore – sometimes you see a black screen, saying only “Stop: 0x000000F1”, or some other similar, ‘helpful’ hexadecimal string – but they are still called “bluescreens”.)

Bluescreen (Stop errors) on NT-based Windows systems are usually caused by poorly-written device drivers or malfunctioning hardware. Way back when dinosaurs roamed, in the Win9x era, incompatible DLLs or bugs in the kernel of the operating system could also cause BSOD’s. (There are different types and causes of stop errors, a good summary can be seen here.)
With Vista, Microsoft got a bit more restrictive, and it can happen when an unsigned device driver is found.

Microsoft got a a little tired, I guess, of taking the rap for the poorly written, and often amateur, device driver-caused BSOD’s. (People tend to blame Windows for the crash..) And so they, over the years, have tried various ways to get the hardware vendors to write and release good driver software, and rewarding those that did with the coveted Microsoft Compatible seal of approval (usually a logo on the box), and placement on the WHQL (Windows Hardware Compatibility List). But.. hardware vendors build, box, and ship, devices.. not program code, or study all the minutia of the OS kernel.

Digital “signatures” (in this instance) are one way to determine if the driver was written by the kid down the street. When a driver has been tested and approved in Microsoft’s own labs, it gets a super-special digital certificate. And with Vista, you pretty much gotta have that driver, or expect stop errors. These Microsoft-signed drivers are available through Windows Update, and the “Update driver” feature (a subset of “Add new hardware”).

Tip of the day: In Windows XP and Vista there is a utility that you can use to scan your all your installed drivers. It will report any it finds that don’t have a “signature”. This is a great way to ‘zero in’ on the (possible) cause of the Stop error.

Use the Sigverif.exe tool to identify unsigned device drivers installed on your Windows XP/Vista computer. To use the tool, perform the following steps:

1) Open Start menu, select Run, type Sigverif and then click OK.

The File Signature Verification tool will open. Click “Start”.

The scan will run, and ideally produce the following result…

But if it finds anything, it will produce a list of funny-named files… like “msndis5.sys” which are your unsigned drivers (or, they’re signed.. but not Microsoft super-specially signed). Hopefully it will be a list of one.

2) Use your favorite search engine to find out what the funny-looking driver belongs to. (In my example, it turns out that msndis5.sys is a part of NetStumbler – a very popular wireless “hotspot” locator.) Now you will know which device, or program, needs your attention to cure the BSOD.

3) Remove the offensive device driver.
There’s options to how you go about this. In the case of my example, it is a program. So, I can uninstall the program, or look for a newer version (update) of the program.
If it were a device, I would go into Device Manager (see, If It Ain’t Broke – Don’t Fix It), select the device in question and try:
* “Update driver. If that says ‘no dice’ (“The best software is already..”),
* “Rollback driver”. If that is not available, or fails to stop the Stop errors,
* “Uninstall”, then reboot. Windows will reinstall the device, and it will grab the driver from the WHQL.

Hopefully, this will resolve your issues. If not, you should start looking at your hardware itself. I’ve run long, so..

Today’s free download:Google Calendar Sync.
For anyone who relies on a digital calendar to keep them on track, Google Calendar Sync is a must-have application. The free download isn’t fancy or even pretty–a simple log-in and options list comprises the system tray icon. However, the meat of the application is what it can do, which is flawlessly add details of Outlook calendar items to Google’s Calendar, and vice versa.

• About Tech Paul

I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.

I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.

Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.

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